Conflict Kitchen is excited to announce our Guest Chef Program, a project pilot that has been submitted to The Sprout Fund’s 100 Days of US initiative. We are asking Conflict Kitchen’s supporters to like our guest chef program on the 100 Days of US website and share our project with your network.

 

In partnership with area restaurants, Conflict Kitchen is piloting a guest chef program to encourage empathy, opportunity and agency for the Pittsburgh area’s foreign-born populations. Beginning in March 2017, recent immigrant and refugee guest chefs will work with head chefs of local restaurants to incorporate several dishes from their country of origin into the restaurant’s menu. Participating restaurants would not only feature the food of each guest chef, but also the stories of their experiences of coming to and living in Pittsburgh. As we do at Conflict Kitchen, these stories would be shared alongside the chef’s food to complement the audience and customer experience.

In the first 100 days of the new presidential administration, we must demonstrate that immigrants are, and have always been, vital contributors to the culinary, social and economic life of Pittsburgh. The cuisines of these communities are as much a part of the city’s culinary life as pierogies and Primanti’s. With the recent media attention to Pittsburgh’s food scene, we will celebrate the food traditions of recent immigrants to Pittsburgh, which will no doubt, become the new Pittsburgh traditions.